Welp, it was another slow news weekend [insert eyes-rolling emoji here]. But we try to come up with something to cover on today’s BradCast nonetheless. [Audio link to full show is posted below this summary.]
Among the many stories covered on today’s program…
- Extreme weather and warnings of same walloping much of the nation today, as two weeks of historic triple digit temperatures in Texas spread to other states, resulting in major storms, deadly tornadoes, widespread power outages and cancelled flights from Arizona through the mid-west up into New England and down to the Carolinas and Florida. But if you hear about these seemingly ever-worsening nightmares from some major U.S. outlets — like Fox “News” (and even ABC, etc.) — you may hear absolutely nothing about the man-made climate change that is fueling our intensifying global crisis.
- On Friday, Politico finally covered the story that we broke on this show six weeks ago about how Georgia Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger says he will not be installing urgently recommended security upgrades to its horribly vulnerable Dominion voting systems until after the 2024 Presidential election in the critical battleground state. We covered that news exclusively here in mid-May. Politico covered it here on Friday. And my tweet pointing both out was throttled by Twitter over the weekend so that it’s nearly impossible to find without a direct link. That is here. (More, hopefully, on this issue tomorrow!)
- Speaking of Georgia, a federal judge has ordered Rudy Giuliani to pay the legal fees for the two Atlanta election workers — Shaye Moss and her elderly mother Ruby Freeman — who are suing him for defamation after he (and Trump, and the rest of the MAGA crew) falsely accused them of committing fraud in the ballot tabulation room during the 2020 Presidential election.
- Curiously enough, the far-right, wildly corrupted U.S. Supreme Court keeps making not terrible rulings at the end of this year’s term. Today, a challenge to a ruling on a case out of Louisiana, where a federal court mandated an additional black majority U.S. House district, was rejected. The case will be sent back to a lower court. If the lower court rules as SCOTUS did a few weeks ago — when they stunned the world by upholding the Voting Rights Act and requiring another black majority House district in Alabama — today’s decision could be very good news for those that care about voting rights, the Constitution, and equal representation for all.
- Also today, SCOTUS allowed several lawsuits against Ohio State University to proceed, after it was discovered the school had, for years, protected a serial sexual abuser who served as a team doctor for years. This is probably not good news for OSU’s former wrestling coach and serial denier Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
- The lower courts are holding as well, for now. Last week, a federal judge permanently overturned Arkansas‘ unspeakably cruel ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender kids, and a federal judge in Florida temporarily blocked Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ anti-freedom crusade to ban minors from attending drag shows. Amusingly, one of the reasons the judge blocked the new law was because it was in conflict with DeSantis’ so-called “Parents Bill of Rights” legislation adopted in 2021.
- Finally today, before opening the phones to listeners, we discuss the bizarre story of whatever the hell happened over the weekend in Russia where, for about 24 hours or so, civil war nearly broke out. That, as Yevgeny Prigozhin, formerly a close ally of Vladimir Putin and commander of the mercenary Wagner Group (arguably Russia’s best fighting force in Ukraine), declared Russia’s justification for attacking Ukraine — to demilitarize and de-Nazify the sovereign nation — to be a lie. Wagner’s march toward Moscow, however, ended as quickly as it began, with Putin theoretically granting Prigozhin safe harbor in Belarus, even if both his future and those of the troops in the Wagner brigade remain uncertain at this hour. We open the phones with what is left of today’s show to discuss what the hell is going on and where both Russia and Putin’s fortunes may be heading from here…
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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Not to mention Supreme Court rules against giving state legislatures unchecked control over federal elections …